Rating: 
Summary: Pears improves on his earlier work with exceptional results
Review: I started Iain Pears' previous novel "An Instance of the Fingerpost" with great enthusiasm, blown away by his excellent sense of characters and history. By the early chapters, I was impressed at how Pears wrote a historical novel that conveyed vivid pictures of pre-modern England without getting bogged down or forgetting that there was a story to tell. By using a narrative style that told (and retold) a similar story through 3 characters, "Fingerpost," while trying to be innovative and inventive, ended up seeming redundant. A great glimpse of history, but one that took endurance to get through.In "Scipio," Pears adopts a similar style of recounting events through the interwoven stories of 3 men. But here his trio of protagonists are of vastly different eras and experiences, making his cast more engaging. He also takes a non-linear tact, which helps make "Scipio" a real page turner. Interestingly, Pears outlines his main characters' deaths relatively early in the book. He also makes insightful comments about the ways that past events follow similar patterns over the course of time. "Scipio" is a valuable novel that should find a wide following.
Rating:
Summary: An Absolute Masterpiece
Review: The Dream of Scipio is one of the smartest, powerful, and stimulating novels I have ever read. It's hard to describe what a good book this is. There's such a profound message in the writing that I can't believe Pears managed to fit it into 400 pages. To accomplish this feat, Pears entwines three separate story lines, in three different historical settings. These backdrops, and the three main characters that inhabit them make this book a real testament to Pears skill and knowledge. The first story, chronologically speaking, centers around Manlius Hippomanes, a prominent landlord of Roman Gaul in the last 5th century. The Empire is collapsing as Gothic hordes pour down from the north. Manlius, a cultured man, intensely proud of his Roman heritage, watches as a civilization he believes superior (and it is) dies around him. He is a man lost to the chaos, until he becomes aquainted with Sophia, the brilliant daughter of a prominent Roman scholar. He quickly falls into love with her, more for her mind than her body. Their learned conversations are fascinating, definitly applicable to modern times. She convinces him to join the new order in Western Europe, the Catholic Church. Manlius becomes a Bishop. He is faced with problems unimaginable, invading armies, internal strife and decay. His transformation is fascinating to follow. Roughly ten centuries later, a young poet and scholar Olivier de Noyen, begins to study the writings of Manlius. Noyen also lives in times of trouble, with the Catholic Church absolutely corrupt and the Black Death sweeping through Europe. Noyen gets swept up in a plot to move the papacy back to Rome from its position in France, giving power back to the Italian church officials. During his travels, Noyen falls in love with the servant girl of his Jewish teacher. He falls absolutely in love with her, but he can never have her because of her religion. As the plague sweeps through Europe, many in the church urge the mass slaughter of the Jews of Europe. Noyen must see to it that this does not happen, while continuing an academic tradition that is quickly dying. The last story center around Julien Barneuve, a 20th century scholar from France. Julien is a student of Oliviers writing, and begins to understand the dedication of the man and his campaign to preserve knowledge. Julien's Europe is one of trouble, with the Nazi's ascendent and many in France, including the "learned" class, encouraging new forms of government, i.e Fascism or Communism. Freedom is old, a failure. As the Nazi's invade, Julien becomes a censor for the Vichy government. He too falls in love with a Jew, who he hides desperately from the authorities. He is forced to examine his own actions and his personal philosophy as civilization, again, seems to be quickly dying. The Dream of Scipio's central point, to me, is that when the world fails, that when people forget themselves and give in to the easy comfort of ignorance and hate, it's up to a few brave indiviuals to keep the flame alive for future generations. The book offers haunting reminders to us on how important the search for truth and knowledge is. The best novel I've read this year.
Rating:
Summary: Beyond words
Review: The book reaches such a highlight of beauty and wisdom that no words can give it justice.
Rating: 
Summary: Can A Philosophical Novel Exist?
Review: Consider for a moment a conundrum: can a book be both a novel with a compelling story and developed characters, and at the same an equally compelling exploration of large philosophical concepts from the world's great thinkers? That would be a neat dialectical trick to pull off, sort of like finding that rare college philosophy professor who can make Heiddeger and Hegel come alive, bringing them into the real, every day world so that their work illuminates every situation you are in. Ian Pears sort of approaches success in The Dream of Scipio. But, unfortunately, he never really manages to integrate the two parts. Perhaps he was done in by the technical complexity of interweaving three separate stories across 1500 years--which he does quite well. What with keeping track of Manlius and Sophia's Neo-Platonist intellectual affair in Roman Gaul, Olivier's passion for a Jewish woman in papist Avignon, and Julien's passion for a Jewish woman in Nazi-dominated Vichy France, the explication of the philosophical concepts seem to stand apart from the rest of the story and are not integrated in a satisfying way. And he also deftly handles the political situations and intrigues that each story is imbedded in--Manlius's cynical decision to embrace Christianity and barbarians to fill the vacuum left by a collapsing Rome; Olivier's life in the power cauldron of papal politics in the midst of the Black Plague; and Julien's cooperation with the Vichy regime in the naive wish that collaboration does not equal capitulation. When the story lines focus on the characters and how they confront and fail in the face of historical necessity (there goes Kant again), it is a well-done book. The interweaving and intersecting of the three stories--while very evident and not surprising--is satisfying and keeps driving the narrative forward. And the narrative is very compelling--you really feel the anguish of Olivier and Julien when confronting love in the face of anti-Semitism. The historical descriptions of ancient Gaul, Medieval France, and Vichy France are wonderful and feel authentic. But the attempt to lay out philosophy--especially NeoPlatonic concepts--is never done fully enough or well enough to make much of a difference to the novel. For this reason, the first part of the book, where the philosophical grounds are layed out, moves slowly and the all-knowing narrative voice becomes very annoying. The second half of the book, where the stories each heat up, is much more engaging--although the narrative voice still can be a distraction with unnecessary interventions and asides (for example, having a young girl in pre-WWII France sell some of her drawings to a nice mustachioed stranger in a gallery, who we are then told signs his name for her--Pablo Picasso). At the end, the reader is left wishing that either the philosophical discussion had been more fully developed, or dropped altogether to allow the implicit lessons of the philosophy to play out in the very engaging stories of the three main plot lines.
Rating:
Summary: A serious and stimulating novel for our times.
Review: In this remarkable and hugely conceived novel of ideas, Pears gives us three intense, emotionally gripping stories set in Provence during the fifth, fourteenth, and 20th centuries. In each of these, a sensitive and thoughtful man of letters faces not only a crisis of belief, but also of action, as outside forces threaten to destroy civilization as he knows it. As each man fights to save the values he finds important, Pears explores the ethical underpinnings of western thought and history, those ideas first proffered by Plato which continue to influence men and governments two thousand years later. A mysterious 5th century manuscript by Manlius Hippomanes connects the parallel plots and eras: the waning days of the Roman Empire, as the barbarian hordes attack Gaul's borders and Manlius Hippomanes writes The Dream of Scipio; the 14th century in Avignon, when poet Olivier de Noyen discovers some of Manlius's writing and deals with papal intrigue, the Hundred Years War, and the Black Death; and the Vichy government in France during World War II, when Julien Barneuve, a scholar who has traced the Manlius manuscript, joins the Vichy government in an effort to "civilize" the German occupiers and prevent deportation of the Jews. This is not a beach book--its excitement is far more thoughtful than sensational. Pears' characters are real, flawed people living and loving in times of crisis and experiencing conflicts with parents, teachers, friends, and mentors. These conflicts clearly parallel those in the wider world of their political alliances and governments, and ultimately affect their attitudes toward humankind in general. Beautiful love stories, which bring warmth to the narrative, are portrayed with the delicacy such fragile relationships deserve and the strength which allows them to endure. As we, too, face uncertain times and threats to our own civilization, Pears offers a reflective and thought-provoking framework for contemplating our own future.
Rating:
Summary: A philosophical and historical masterwork!
Review: I wasn't impressed with Iain Pears's An Instance of the Fingerpost, but I was told that this novel was an outstanding work of fiction. I am glad I gave it a whirl. This is a wonderful and true work of historical fiction. What makes this novel all the more memorable to me is that it is philosophical as well. The Dream of Scipio is an extremely well done and beautiful novel -- a challenging read involving three different characters at three different points in history. All come from the same French town, and each one affects the subsequent character. The story flows in a marvelous and steady motion, moving seamlessly from one historical period to the next. The three main characters are concerned, perhaps obsessed, with making morally correct decisions in a seemingly immoral world. Each lives in a time when tremendous calamities of historical consequences were occurring around them and throughout the whole of Europe. The decisions they make are not easy and the latter characters look for guidance to the writing of the Manlius, the first character in the novel. The Dream of Scipio is a highly interesting read, one that enthralled me from beginning to end. I love historical fiction and this novel is one of the best I've read. If you are not afraid of a philosophical and somewhat complex novel, pick this one up. You won't regret it.
Rating:
Summary: Deeply Thought-Provoking
Review: The jacket copy on this book is somewhat misleading, since it's billed as a mystery, which leads one to expect a more suspense-filled plot and also a story that moves quickly. This novel is neither, although it does contain a mystery of sorts. The question surrounds the identity and interactions between several historical figures in three different time periods -- the fall of Rome, the time of the Black Death in Europe and the fall of France during the Second World War. The story contains many references to philosophy and religion, comparing characteristics among the three time periods and the people who lived through each. A key idea of the book is the question of personal choice during times of trouble. Does one hold fast to absolute principles, risking death and destruction, or is it better to go along with the opposition in hopes of ameliorating its brutality? In the three cases described in the novel, the opposition is represented by the barbarians who sacked Rome, the oppressive Church of the Dark Ages and the invading Germans of 1942. In the first two instances, the heroes allow themselves to be co-opted by a barbarian king and the Church hierarchy, with mixed results. In the final instance, the hero teeters on the brink of choice, finally deciding to stick with his principles, even though in doing so he, his friends and his way of life are certain to be destroyed. The book is exceptionally thought-provoking. I spent a lot of time thinking about what I read, going back and re-reading sections, and pondering what I might do in a similar situation. A bonus was that I learned a good deal about the Greek philosophers and about what life was like during times and in places that I don't know much about. This is a very good read that will challenge most readers and, in return, pay off in ways that the usual page-turners do not.
Rating:
Summary: Fascinating blend of philosophy, morality & historic fiction
Review: Like probably nothing else, the breakdown of social order forces us to reach into ourselves, to draw for guidance on our innermost beliefs and moral values; for absent direction by the established rules of society, we only have ourselves to turn to for advice. - Such is the situation in which find themselves this book's three protagonists: Manlius Hippomanes, Olivier de Noyen and Julien Barneuve; and each resolves the resulting conflict in a different fashion, based as much on his personal nature as his deeply-held convictions and values. Manlius is a 5th century Roman aristocrat, living during the final years of the Roman Empire. Originally a man of letters more than political or religious leader, he is a member of a dying class: educated in Neoplatonism and the classical Roman tradition, cultured, and placing the survival of civilization - as embodied in traditional Roman virtues - above everything else. Yet, as his city, Vaison, and the rest of Provence comes under the dual onslaught of the Visigoths under Euric and the Burgundians under Gundobad, he abandons (if only publicly) his pagan beliefs and seeks appointment as Bishop, realizing that with the secular power of the Roman Republic weakened beyond recovery, only the Catholic church's growing influence provides a sufficient basis for his ultimate goal: to maintain the essence of Roman civilization and culture while formally accepting the weight of the new political forces; by forming an alliance with Roman-educated Gundobad to save at least part of Provence from destruction by the Visigoths, and to ensure the continuance of Roman law and values under Burgundian administration. (As the author implicitly admits, this book's Manlius is loosely based on St. Avitus of Vienne, who lived approximately 50 years later, actually was an advisor to Gundobad, later converted Gundobad's son and successor Sigismund to Christianity, and whose most prominent piece of writing is a five-book-long poem on Original Sin, Expulsion from Paradise, the Deluge and the Crossing of the Red Sea which, 1100 years later, in part probably inspired Milton's "Paradise Lost.") Strongly influenced by his muse's, Neoplatonian philosopher Sophia's teachings, Manlius lays down his own philosophy in sermons and letters - and in a treatise he entitles "The Dream of Scipio," for the like-named excerpt from Cicero's "Republica" describing - in the voice of Scipio Africanus - the great Roman's vision of the universe and the rewards of immortality awaiting the good statesman. But unlike Cicero's "Somnium Scipionis," Manlius's manuscript doesn't take the form of a dream by Scipio Junior about a conversation with Scipio Africanus but that of a dream *about* Scipio; or rather, a conversation between Sophia and Manlius about Scipio's comments on the fall of Carthage. And while in Manlius's penmanship the treatise thus contains primarily a discourse on the fall of Rome (and a response to Saint Augustine's "City of God"), this book's two other protagonists, Olivier and Julien, in turn come to appreciate its significance as a treatise on the fall of civilization in general: For Manlius holds that civilization is a purpose in and of itself, to be perpetuated either by action premised on this singular aim, or by teaching. Olivier and Julien, however, draw different conclusions from Manlius's treatise than did its author for his own time. Olivier, a 14th century poet in the Avignon household of powerful Cardinal Ceccani (but like Manlius originally from Vaison) sees his world fall apart as the plague descends upon the South of France, while Ceccani and his rival Cardinal de Deaux vie for influence in the court of Pope Clement VI. Caught between the lines of political intrigue and the menace of the Black Death are Olivier's Jewish teacher Gersonides and his servant Rebecca. And unlike his master Ceccani, who (similar to Manlius) will sacrifice individuals for a perceived greater aim, Olivier takes the opposite approach, sacrificing himself for an act of humanity and placing the well-being of two individuals - Rebecca and Gersonides - over his master's far-reaching goals. Julien finally, a scholar who has retired to his hometown Vaison to outwait the horrors of the Third Reich and the Vichy Regime, is the most reluctant of all to take action, preferring instead to make his small contribution to the preservation of civilization through teaching. But eventually he is goaded into collaboration with the regime on the grounds that whatever he doesn't consent to do will be done by someone with true national-socialist fervor - only to realize too late, after his lover, Jewish painter Julia Bronsen has been sent to a "labor" camp, that evil actions taken for honorable reasons often constitute the greatest of all evils. But it is not only "The Dream of Scipio" - written by Manlius, unearthed by Olivier and Julien - and the moral choices they face that unite this novel's three protagonists. Of similarly symbolic importance is the fate of the Jewish population, society's eternal all-purpose scapegoat (persecuted by Manlius, protected by Clement VI after Olivier's act of self-sacrifice and left to perish by Julien's failure to act); and each man is strongly influence by a dark-haired muse, an outsider of society in her own way. And then, there is a little chapel just outside Vaison: consecrated to Sophia (whom, like Manlius, Christian oral tradition has made into a saint for her manifold acts of goodwill), rediscovered by Olivier, decorated by his painter-friend Luca Pisano, and temporary sanctuary to Julien and Julia. Iain Pears masterfully weaves together the fates of the three men, three pivotal historical moments - observed in the single nucleus of one Southern French town - and philosophical questions as old as civilization itself into this spellbinding successor to his equally stunning "Instance of the Fingerpost." Yet, his writing isn't ponderous or heavy-handed; and while some prior understanding of the philosophical concepts discussed may enhance the book's enjoyment, no great expertise in Neoplatonism or Catholic theology is required on the reader's side. This is historic fiction at its best: engaging, thoughtful and well-researched to boot.
Rating:
Summary: A Beautiful Dream
Review: I rarely write reviews, although I read constantly. But I need to write a review of The Dream of Scipio. This book is one of the finest I've ever read. It is a work of art. It is not an easy read for it follows three different characters in three different timelines. But the characters are interrelated, and a common theme pervades the entire book. There is a symmetry, a beauty, and a message in this work. I strongly recommend it, not to the casual reader, but to the connoiseur of great literature. For this book truly qualifies as such. Enjoy!
Rating:
Summary: Do the Right Thing
Review: This is a three dimensional weaving of exceptional characters in the worst of times. I was cautious reading due to the nature of the three eras and the gruesome realities of those times. The Black Plague, Vichy France and the Fall of the Roman Empire despite the lush south of France setting, tend to exhaust my tolerance for gore. Yet, Avignon could never be more enchanting and true love continues to spur humanity toward a higher good despite our base natures. The historical and artistic details are sublime, but it is as a writer that Pears captivates his audience. Through ingenious plotting with a superb timing and philosophical tension, I found that I was less concerned with the violence and more concerned with the struggle of the individual in time.
From Spike Lee to the Greek tragedians- it is about moral action- and if you are one of those who assume it is easier in these times or that we have advanced stop reading and turn on the TV. This book has wit and yet it requires some effort. If the reader dares, it is extraordinarily worthwhile.
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